“The Secret Keeper” by Kate Morton is a great book… it is brilliant,
beautiful and believable! I just finished reading Kate’s latest book.Amazing – really!

I am not sure if I can fully explain the book in a short review.

The book is about Laurel, Dorothy, and/or maybe Vivien. It is about 1941
through to 2011. It is about the Bombing of London, England and about surviving
mixed with the intrigue of life that follows.

It is about my family as well – and maybe yours. After all none of us
really know all the “secrets” that our parents contain within their life time.

What a statement to make!It
suggests that my parents didn’t really tell me everything.That maybe I don’t really know who they are.

That statement is also being plain honest. There is more than likely
something that you have not told your own children. They do not know the whole truth
and nothing but the truth. You were afraid that they wouldn’t understand – or maybe
they couldn’t handle the truth.

It is from that personal basis and likely the hidden truth that we all
have that Kate tells the story of these folk in “The Secret Keeper”.

It also shows that the kids will likely really want to know what the
truth is…

It will also possibly make the personal secret that you carry be kept a little
longer – just a little longer.

Intrigued yet?

“The Secret Keeper” is the fourth Kate Morton book I have read.“The House at Riverton”, “The Forgotten
Garden”, and “The Distant Hours” preceded “The Secret Keeper”.Check out her
Web Page.

Imagine having your first four books all
published and all best sellers – while conducting the busy life of being a Mom
and Wife in a small family. From her Web Page this is part of her story, quote…“Kate Morton is
the eldest of three sisters. She was born in South Australia and moved with her
family numerous times before settling, finally, on Tamborine Mountain. There
she attended a tiny country school and spent much of her childhood inventing
and playing games of make-believe with her sisters.”

Her books are being published worldwide!

Do I sound like I am raving about this gal…
and these books? Yep!Your guess is a good
one. Kate’s words and ideas are now in me… deep within me… they are treasures
to be savoured over and over again.

Yikes I have to find my suitcase!March is over and April has a trip to complete.May is almost here.But with things moving this fast I need cash
to get it all done. Where will I get that Cash from?

Well the answer arrived by an email directly to me from Allen and Violet
Large. The Large Couple received a huge Lottery win of over $11 Million – and now
they are want to share it with a select few people that they sent this email
to.

Here it is…

Dear Sir/Madam,I saw your email address during the course of my
research today. My nameis Allen my wife and I won a Jackpot Lottery
$11.2 Million in July andduring the process my wife passed away as a
result of cancer illness, we aredonating the sum of 1.million dollars to 6 lucky
individual over the world and ifyou received this email then you are one of the
luck recipients and all you haveto do is get back with is so that we can send
your details to the payout bank.Please note that you have to contact my private
email for more information(allen_violetlarge_ 9909@yahoo.ca)

Now they play on sympathy of dumb Canadians
and also their wish to get rich fast.

I post this to show what Scammers try – over and
over again.They simply show how dumb
they are to think anyone in our country is that dumb as well – to believe the
scammer.

What would you wish for the scammer to
receive as a reward for doing what they do so easily to gullible people?

Here is an old wish from Arabic sources (I am
told) “May the flees of a thousand Camels infest your arm pits!”But that may be too easy... they would find a
way to sell the fleas and make a buck off dumb North Americans.

We cared for her. My wife and I picked her up each week to attend
church. Her kids came along as well.They were growing teenagers.

A number of times she shared her own pain from the past.When she was younger her brother and sister
were killed in a house fire – leaving her brother and herself as the siblings.

She lived with her Brother and his family for a while. Her mother was
also living in the same place.

After a few years of helping her she moved on in her life.She found a soul mate, fell in love and they
married.They moved on together.

The next we heard she discovered that she had cancer.It wasn’t long before the situation
deteriorated and she grew worse.Then
the report came of her death.

We attended the funeral and stood at the graveside later as they placed
her ashes beside the graves of her sister and brother who had passed away in
the fire.

Yesterday I received a call asking if I would be able to conduct another
funeral on this coming Sunday afternoon.The man’s name is Gordon.He was
killed in an accident.

When I read the Obituary I stopped and a lump came into my throat.This man is the brother of the gal we worked
with… and the one that she stayed with for a while.This mother that I had met has now lost all
four children to tragedies that are hard to fathom.

On Sunday I will stand with others to try to form words to comfort these
folks… and I am not sure what words I will say – yet.

It will be Easter Sunday… and well… that alone is supposed to be happy…
bright… nice… alive… and all things new.

I am a retired minister. I do retired things and carry no extra loads or
burdens that the guys or gals that are leading churches do.

I do pray one prayer… that God never says “No” to – never “Wait” – but
always “YES”.

That prayer is simple, “God give me people that no one else can help.”

Today he has answered again… Sunday I will try my best to deliver the
message he has given me.

Right at this moment there are no words to tell you how I feel… or what
I think.Oh boy….

A sobering lunch time
– and a million thoughts – meeting Dementia head on

After I left the conversation and the folks sitting at the table in the restaurant,
my friend’s wife came over to speak to me privately.

We had been engaged in the typical ‘ministerial banter’ but my friend
had not said too much. He was busy
eating his plate of food and enjoying it to the fullest. So it appeared.

My friend has pastored a number of churches over the years. He is a brilliant
man to say the least. When you are with him his humour and sharp wittiness is
engaging. The man is just plain fun to be with.

It has been about a year since we have seen each other. And from what I saw things had changed –
somehow??

As his wife took me aside she asked me if I knew that her husband has
left his job/ministry because of the issues that he is now facing. “He has a
very advanced stage of dementia now and has been forced to quit everything.”

I definitely had not heard this overwhelming information that I was now processing.

My friend for the last 15 years, was no longer there. Yes his body was
but his brilliant mind was now being slowly trapped with this new issue he was
facing. And there is absolutely nothing
that can be done for him – except love and care for him.

His wife is a radiant woman. As
she spoke to me she had not changed one bit from what can be seen. Yet the
constant new challenges are beginning to be felt with this rather rapid onset (from
what seems to have happened).

I told the two of them that I will come over to see him and maybe we can
go for a walk – maybe have coffee together.
She thanked me – but was too sure as he doesn’t walk well anymore…

Last evening and this morning early I could not stop thinking of this
couple. I respect them so much for what
they have done – for who they are. I cannot stop thinking….

A part of me needs to help. Another part of me needs to flee. And still another
part of me needs desperately to get my small tasks and big tasks done now…before
something like this happens to me. The
panic has set in and is almost overwhelming today.

One of my friends forwarded an email to me that contains, “And Then it
is Winter”. I apologize to the author of
this piece for not being able to give you credit for what I am including in
this Blog Post today. If you contact me I will be happy to give the credit where
credit is due. Thanks in advance.

This is particularly powerful for me over this next few weeks. I will be getting together with cousins of
mine that are all about the same age. It
is possible that a 95 year old aunt will join us as well. We are all very young in our connections with
each other. That is – what we remember is all about the old days. Few of us
have connected with each other as we have aged… and we have really aged.

That is why these words mean so much to me personally.

Here is the email’s contents.

*AND THEN IT IS WINTER *

*You know. . . time has a way of
moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just
yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my
mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years
went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and
of all my hopes and dreams. *

**

*But, here it is... the winter of my
life and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the
years go and where did my youth go? I remember well seeing older people through
the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that
winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would
be like. *

**

*But, here it is...my friends are
retired and getting grey...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some
are in better and some worse shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not
like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their
age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and
never thought we'd be. Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real
target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory! Cause
if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit! *

**

*And so...now I enter into this new
season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength
and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!!
But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure
how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's over.
A new adventure will begin! *

**

*Yes, I have regrets. There are
things I wish I hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many
things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime. *

*So, if you're not in your winter
yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, what
ever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put
things off too long!! Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you
can never be sure whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that
you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things
that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and
love you for all the things that you have done for

them in all the years past!! *

*"Life" is a gift to you.
The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a
fantastic one. *

*LIVE IT WELL! *

*ENJOY TODAY! *

*DO SOMETHING FUN! *

*BE HAPPY ! *

*HAVE A GREAT DAY *

**

*Remember "It is health that is
real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. *

Spring arrived two days ago according to the Calendar and all the news
reports we have received.

Some of the birds are coming back now to cold Canada too.

But there is only one way to truly know that Spring is about to arrive
for our household. And that one thing
happened yesterday.

There on the kitchen table were the new packets of Flower Seeds.

The photo shown below is taken on top of a snow bank that is at least 12
inches above where these little ones will be planted. Oh boy! Something big is
going to happen quickly in order for the snow to be gone.

But this small bright packages are sure sign of faith inside of the Gardner.
In our case that faith is inside of my wife.
She honestly believes that all the hard work in planting and grooming
and cutting and pruning is worth it all.
So much work to get a few months of beauty spread over our yard.

She is woman of Faith for sure!

But then what happened the last year’s kind of sparks us on to this
summer’s soon-to-be-seen beauty. Here is a sample of what our Morning Glory
fence line looks like… and these photos alone make the excitement in me grow as
well.

I don’t think we have had this much fun in a long time! Plus we ate one of the best lunch meals in a
long time too. And it all happened in a
group where my Mom, together with my wife and I fit right in.

Yesterday we took part in the Community Care Harvey’s Diners Club(part of Community Care Peterborough). This particular Diners Club took place at the
Wesleyan United Church just south of Buckhorn – at the Curve Lake turn off.

Great food, great fun and great people.

I was the guest demonstrator/speaker for this particular day. What fun!
Sorry I said that already… I know.

I had met Lynda Mckerr, the Community Care Development Coordinator, at
the Buckhorn Community Heritage Day. She
was taking part in demonstrating the beautiful quilts that the ladies of that
area had made. I was doing my wood carving and Spring Pole Lathe demonstration. And without a doubt the most popular thing
going that day was the “Dancing Dan” together with “playing the spoons”.

Lynda asked me at the Heritage Day if I would come to speak to the
Diners Club.

I had as many questions as you probably would – coming into a group you
have not yet met. How does a Diners Club
work and what is Community Care?

The Community Care Harvey’s Diners Club is part of a much bigger
outreach work actively carried on by Lynda and her volunteers throughout the
region north of Peterborough. Their
actual contact area is from Kinmount down to Selwyn and from Apsley to the western
areas of Harvey township.

Community Care’s statement sums up what they do “Empowering you to live
at home”. When Lynda told us all that
they do to help the seniors in the region I was blown away. Community Care and their staff along with the
numerous volunteers are reaching out to hundreds of people across the region.
Through active engagement and creative activities they have drawn together
seniors from across the region.

With such a large area, a senior could easily find themselves alone and
in need of contacts with others. And
with age and mobility challenges it would be easy to become isolated. The only answer to that isolation and the
risks(and possible health issues) that come with it normally would be to move
into a senior’s residence of some sort… meaning they would have to leave the
area and move to a larger community.

But with the work that Community Care carries on it makes it possible
for people to stay in their own homes longer.

I think the oldest persons there yesterday were one of two (maybe both)
men. One was turning 95 years old at his next birthday. The other fellow had already
reached that mark or was closely behind the other guy. Both men had been able to attend this Diners
Club because more volunteers had brought them.

From what Lynda explained to us, she has a number of volunteers that
drive to pick up the older folk of the group and make this day happen for
everyone. What an army of great folks!

There were only a few that were my Mom’s age. The majority were over
60ish and around the 70ish mark… with others mixed in between. I say that to say – I fit in real well!!!

Lynda told us how the Wesleyan United Church’s
volunteer crew set up their facility, cooked the meal of ham and scalloped potatoes
with peas, carrots and coleslaw. MmmMMM MM! Not forgetting he two long tables
of pies for dessert.

But the Wesleyan United Church is only one of
the facilities across Community Care’s are of operation. They also go to Elim Lodge, Buckhorn
Community Centre, Cody Inn(I think I have that right) and some other church
related facilities.

Do I sound excited about what I saw and took
part in – You BETCHA! If I was living in
the area I would be at every one of the activities!

We finished off my part of the program with
about 8 participants “playing the spoons” with me as “two voluntolds” making the
Dancing Dans – dance. One Dancing Dan
lost his leg when the dancing with his partner became so wild…kerpow!!!

Thank you to Lynda Mckerr and your volunteers.
You made my Mom’s day. She told me in the car how much she enjoyed the day… and
the Diners Club!

Way to go Community Care!!! You gals and guys
rock!

BTW –if you would like to know more about their
programs and connect with Lynda Mckerr – click here harvofc@commcareptbo.org or call
705-657-2171

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Murray Lincoln

The Wood Carver of Misty Hollow

About the Wood Carver of "Misty Hollow"

Murray launched Misty Hollow carving in 2008 after retiring as a Minister. Now besides working at his Misty Hollow Carving Shop he is also involved in a number of volunteer roles in the community. Contact Murray at murray.lincoln@gmail.com